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Prevention through Design: An Important Aspect of Social Sustainability. Gabrielle Carpenter T. Michael Toole Civil & Environmental Engineering Bucknell University First International Conference on Sustainable Design and Construction March 24, 2011.
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Prevention through Design: An Important Aspect of Social Sustainability Gabrielle Carpenter T. Michael Toole Civil & Environmental Engineering Bucknell University First International Conference on Sustainable Design and Construction March 24, 2011
Introduction to Social Sustainability • Brundtland Report (1987): more about Social than Environmental Sustainability • Elkington’sTriple Bottom Line • Environmental • Economic • Social
Related Literature to Social Sustainability • Vesilind and Gunn (1998): Engineer’s ethical obligations to: • Deprived people • Distant people • Future people • WBCSD’s Corporate Social Responsibilities include: • “Commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development; • “Improve quality of life of the workforce and their families; • “Improve quality of life of the local community and society at large.”
Social Sustainability in Projects • Effect on the surrounding community: • Noise • Traffic • Aesthetics • Risk • Fair wages • Safe work environment
Introduction to Prevention through Design • Process of addressing construction site safety and health in design of project • aka Design for Safety, Safety by Design • Design-Builders: URS, Jacobs, Parsons, Bechtel • Owners: Intel, Southern Co., BHP Billiton,ExxonMobil • Required in UK since 1995 and currently required in Australia, Singapore, South Africa
PtD Examples: Roofs and Perimeters Parapet Walls Skylights Upper story windows
PtD Examples: Prefabrication Concrete Wall Panels Concrete Segmented Bridge Steel Stairs
Ethical Reasons for PtD • Typical Annual Construction Accidents in U.S. • Nearly 200,000 serious injuries • 1,000+ deaths • National Society of Professional Engineers Code of Ethics • Engineers shall hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public • American Society of Civil Engineers’ Code of Ethics • Engineers shall recognize that the lives, safety, health and welfare of the general public are dependent upon engineering decisions
PtD and Social Equity • Do not our duties include minimizing all risks that we have control over? • Do not we have the same duties for construction workers as for the “public”? • Is it ethical to create designs that are not as safe as they could (practically) be?